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Cramer Remix: The real reason Facebook didn’t buy Snap

Cramer Remix: The real reason Facebook didn’t buy Snap
VIDEO1:1101:11
Cramer Remix: The real reason Facebook didn’t buy Snap

Despite a flurry of positive analyst ratings that sent Snap shares flying Monday, Jim Cramer believes one of its biggest competitors could be a bigger threat than the Street expects.

With Facebook aggressively competing against Snap using Instagram stories, the "Mad Money" host worried that the traction Facebook is seeing signals trouble ahead for the Snapchat parent.

"Mark Zuckerberg's a vicious competitor, and to me, the fact that he didn't acquire Snap simply means that he plans to kill it himself," Cramer said.

And while Cramer doesn't discount the positive factors fueling Snap's new "buy" ratings, namely its target demographic, strong sales projections and innovative spirit, he worries that the stock is still too overvalued for its hype.

"Discipline can be a real buzzkill at the beginning, but it's saved my bacon too often for me to ignore it. So I say enjoy Snap all you want, but you'll be enjoying it without me," Cramer said.

A monitor displays Snap Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Cramer's discipline helped him more than usual today as the market digested news of the GOP health-care bill's demise. Though some argued otherwise, he knew the GOP's Obamacare replacement failing would not derail the rally for three critical reasons.

First and foremost, the health-care bill's failure clears the way for more popular initiatives on President Donald Trump's agenda such as tax cuts and repatriation.

Second, improving earnings reports gave Cramer confidence in the market's stability regardless of any confusion coming from Washington.

Cramer said Monday's positive earnings reports from both Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants and cloud services giant Red Hat disrupted the Street's negativity without the need for an obstacle-free Trump agenda.

"Many people may want to lump everything into the Trump rally rubric, but earnings play a far more important role when it comes to the direction of the stock market," he said.

Third, companies are finally starting to feel the relief of deregulation as Trump sets out to repeal Obama-era rules, an action that does not require congressional approval and that Cramer believes is hugely important to "the psyche of business."

House Speaker Paul Ryan at a news conference following a Republican caucus meeting in the Capitol, March 24, 2017
Getty Images

With the market confused over where the Trump agenda is leading, Cramer suggested loading up on "high-quality stocks that are trading well below where they deserve to be," like consulting giant Accenture.

"If you're looking to migrate to mobile or the cloud or maybe you want to embrace advanced data analytics software, they're the guys who can help," Cramer said.

Cramer also contended that any imperfections reflected in the company's earnings reports are buying opportunities rather than actual weaknesses.

"That's why I predicted this sell-off in my game plan a week and a half ago, and it's why I'm pounding the table on Accenture here, because I don't want you to miss this terrific buying opportunity," the "Mad Money" host said.

If you're looking for a "catch-up stock" and think oil prices are gearing up for a comeback rally, Cramer tapped Occidental Petroleum as an option.

The company's recent "buy" ratings from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse suggest that oil prices could rebound to $50 and improve Occidental's standing.

"If you believe that oil could be poised to rebound here back to the mid $50s, admittedly a very big if, then Occidental could be worth speculating on because it may be too hated and some very good analysts who didn't care for it higher are now positive," Cramer said.

If not, however, then Cramer found "there's not much to like" about the oil and gas producer.

Nate Fick, chief executive officer of Endgame Inc.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Finally, Cramer spoke with CEO Nate Fick of private cybersecurity company Endgame, who said he thinks the United States is underprepared for the imminent threat of cyberattacks.

"If we're going to talk about a policy point, there's a real deterrence failure in cybersecurity," Fick told Cramer.

"The Russians interfered in the U.S. election via cyber means, because if they'd done it by sending agents into our polling places, we would've responded," he continued. "And our adversaries know that we aren't organized to respond yet digitally."

Yet what many know as the "election hack," or the Russian-led hack and release of information from the Democratic National Committee's servers in the months leading up to the 2016 election, rattled the notion that the U.S. government is fully prepared to handle cyber threats.

Fick said that all of Endgame's testing suggested its platform could have prevented the hack, but there is no way to know for certain.

In Cramer's lightning round, he sped through his take on a number of caller favorite stocks:

HSBC Holdings: "See, my problem is that it's got that 10 percent yield. The 10 percent yield scares me. I always feel that when you see that yield like that, that is a red flag and something could happen to it, so I'm going to have to say no to that one."

Canada Goose: "Listen, at $15 bucks, I think it's good. I know people don't want to own apparel, I know people feel like the stock is too hot. Not for me. I like it."

Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Snap.

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